Caring for an Ear Ache

A friend came down with an ear ache. I suggested exercise. He did some and it helped, but asked why. I'm not sure. The following is what I know, and guess.

I get ear aches a couple of times per month, usually. Rarely are they bad, unless accompanied by a cold.

But they never last long because I do a few minutes of exercise to get rid of them. Often, 30-40 half push-ups (against a bathroom counter) will do the trick. Sometimes it takes 50 squats (looking at straight ahead as possible, squat down to touch the floor in front of the feet, keeping the heels on the ground.) With a real bad ear ache, it might take a hundred.

Note that it's important to be hydrated, that is, to have drunk enough water. Often I start by drinking a cup or two (8-16 ounces) of water.

When you're sick, doctors seem to recommend bed rest. I once told my doctor about exercising to drain my sinuses, especially with an ear ache. I do NOT know if exercise while you're sick is bad. Certainly it's bad if you have pneumonia. Maybe with the flu, too.

But if an ear ache lasts a while, it can become infected or the infection can get worse. In my experience, making them drain by exercising gets rid of them, or enough so they stop hurting and the body effectively fights any infection.

I'm not a doctor. The medical sites I visited don't seem to know why sinus pressure causes ear pain. The image seems to be accurate (there are a ton of them, but few actually label the "middle ear", colored red in the image below.)

I'm making this up from the little I remember about this stuff- I'll try to find out more...

Sinus pressure is caused by a build up of mucus (snot). The body produces mucus to surround dirt, pollen or dust in the air ducts- your nose and lungs. Once surrounded by mucus, small hairs on cells (cilia) can push against it and move it out of the lungs, up the throat where you can cough it out or swallow it. The digestive system is good at processing cells safely, so it's safe to swallow it.

Your sinus glands are above and under the eyes, toward the center of your face (see photo at the bottom of this page). The eustachian tube connects the ears to the sinus cavity.

I don't know why ears fill with mucus. The ears are below most of the sinuses, so perhaps when you're congested, it's just easy for the draining mucus to fill the eustachian tubes.

Or maybe there are cells in the ear canal that generate mucus which is supposed to drain into the eustachian tube. But if the mucus is too thick, or part of the eustachian tube is already full, it backs up.

What seems to happen is that the upper part of the eustachian tube, the middle ear, fills up with mucus, putting pressure on inner parts of the ear, perhaps even the ear drum, causing pain.

Or possibly, an infection, even a small one, causes mucus to be generated, but it's too thick so fills the upper eustachian tube. Or maybe the infection causes tissue to swell, and the pressure isn't from mucus at all...

I also don't know why exercise causes the sinuses to drain.

Exercise causes the heart to pump harder, increasing blood pressure to send more oxygen-filled blood to muscles, especially in the extremities.

Perhaps the higher blood pressure causes more moisture to go from the blood into tissue.

As the muscles work, they generate heat, much of which is spread to the rest of the body by the blood flow. To cool us down, the body reacts by sweating- expelling salty water from the skin.

Perhaps the sweating also happens inside, causing salt-water to be excreted into the mucus, thinning it so it can more easily drain.

All I know is that once the body is hot enough, the draining seems to happen quickly. Usually I have to get to the point where I start to breathe hard.

WikiHow offers 8 ways to drain sinuses, though they don't talk specifically about ears.

Their 7th is exercise, but they recommend 15-20 minutes. I find that a minute or two is usually enough- perhaps I'm just in lousy shape, aerobically...

Their 6th is drinking hot things. I find drinking hot water helps- especially if it's enough to make me too warm and start to sweat, like 2-3 cups (16-24 ounces.) I find spicy food only helps a bit.

Their 4th and 5th are rinsing with warm salt water (half a teaspoon salt in a cup of warm water.) Make sure it's not too hot. When I'm really sick, I'll takes snorts of half a cup into a nostril, spitting it out after it drains into my throat. This is especially good if it's draining a lot and I'm getting a sore throat, or if I'm congested due to breathing in smoke or dust.

(For a sore throat, also do salt water gargles with hot, saltier water, and follow it up with a zinc lozenge.)

In their list:

#1 - The first is steaming yourself, either running a hot shower over your head, breathing in steam from a pot (carefully- it's hot).

#2 - The second is using a humidifier (breathing in moister air, without the heat).

#3 - The third is using a hot compress (getting the heat, without breathing in the moisture.)

I've done all these- a shower seems to be best, probably because it heats the whole body. A steam room is good, too, if you have one.

They also recommend #8, massaging your sinuses. Better, more specific instruction can be found on this youtube video.

A drawing of sinuses is below. It doesn't show the eustachian tube, but the ear is below most of the sinuses, so perhaps it can easily fill when you're congested, especially while reclining on your back.

May 24, 2020